The parachute battalion ­immortalised in classic war film A Bridge Too Far could be scrapped in Army cuts.

Commanders fear 2 Para, ­famous for its heroics in the Second World War, the Falklands and ­Afghanistan, is under threat because of a lack of planes suitable for low-level parachuting.

Senior Army officers say the unit – full name the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment – is ­vulnerable in the Future Force 2020 cost-cutting review.

One high-ranking soldier said: “The regiment offers so much, but we are not just fighting a budget – we are fighting all the other ­infantry ­regiments who are ­desperate to survive as well.

“I feel the capability to ­parachute has been diluted and we are now in the situation in which there are ­simply not enough planes to put a Para ­battalion in the air, although we are still used in ­Afghanistan.

“We have been forced to send soldiers to Afghanistan without wings because of a shortage of aircraft.”

The Future Force 2020 review is being prepared by Lieutenant General Nick Carter and will be studied by the head of the Army, General Sir Peter Wall.

It is due to be unveiled in April to show how ­numbers can be cut from 100,000 to 82,000.

The review is understood to be focusing on infantry regiments with more than three ­battalions, leaving the Paras, The Rifles and the Mercians at risk. The Paras have one unit – 1 Para – that ­supports special forces. ­Another – 3 Para – ­spearheads a rapid ­reaction task force. The main ­option being studied is to keep 1 and 3 Para and axe 2 Para or trim it down as an infantry unit.

As a unit, 2 Para has not jumped from an RAF aircraft for more than five years, leaving it without a defined role.

Exercises and ­training jumps have been cancelled ­because the RAF’s Hercules C-130 fleet is in ­Afghanistan. The ­Ministry of Defence has bought C-17 transport planes but they do not have ­suitable jumping gear.

The battalion, based in ­Colchester, Essex, as part of 16 Air Assault Brigade, has a long ­history of heroics.

In 1982 2 Para fought the bloodiest battle of the ­Falklands at Goose Green against an ­Argentine force twice their size.

They have led from the front in Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Iraq. They have also been used as front-line troops in Helmand, ­Afghanistan – including a bloody six-month tour in 2008 when 15 of its 700 soldiers were killed

A spokesman for the MoD said: “A review of the future structure of the Army is ­ongoing and no conclusions have yet been reached.”